Stichwort: Theologie, Theologe

Autor, Quelle: Sala, Giovanni B., Kontroverse Theologie

Titel: Theologie - Glaubensverständnis

Index: Theologie; Aufgabe; Vernunft - Glaube

Kurzinhalt: Der Glaube ist keine Alternative zu einer Vernunft, die durch eine Dynamik zum Transzendenten hin gekennzeichnet ist; er setzt sie vielmehr voraus und ermöglicht ihr, über den Bereich hinauszugehen, für die sie von sich aus zuständig ist. Aufgabe der ...

Text: 236a Das Glaubensverständnis, auf dessen Suche der Theologe ist, verlangt in keiner Weise, daß er auf seine Rationalität verzichtet, »denn derselbe Gott, der die Geheimnisse offenbart und den Glauben eingießt, hat in den menschlichen Geist das Licht der Vernunft gelegt; Gott aber kann sich nicht selbst verleugnen, noch kann jemals Wahres Wahrem widersprechen« (DS 3017). Der christliche Glaube hat keinen Grund, sich vor der Vernunft zu fürchten; im Gegenteil, er hat allen Grund, die Vernunft zum Verständnis dessen einzusetzen, was Gott an uns tut, wenn er uns unsere Sünden vergibt und uns zu seinen Adoptivsöhnen macht. Denn wahre Liebe will das (oder besser den), was sie liebt, möglichst besser kennenlernen. Der Glaube ist keine Alternative zu einer Vernunft, die durch eine Dynamik zum Transzendenten hin gekennzeichnet ist; er setzt sie vielmehr voraus und ermöglicht ihr, über den Bereich hinauszugehen, für die sie von sich aus zuständig ist. Aufgabe der Theologie ist es, die Ordnung der Übernatur, von der wir im Glauben wissen, durch ein analoges Verständnis, das Gott dem gewährt, der »fleißig, fromm und nüchtern forscht« (DS 3016), in unser alltägliches Leben zu integrieren und fruchtbar zu machen. Dazu ist die Treue zu den Forderungen unserer Intelligenz und Rationalität unverzichtbar. (Fs)

236b Der katholische Theologe ist gut beraten, sich nicht ohne weiteres auf die auf dem Markt der Meinungen vorliegenden Philosophien zu verlassen. Seine überaus fordernde Aufgabe verlangt vielmehr, daß er, in ständigem Dialog mit der jeweiligen Kultur, ein rationales Instrumentarium entwickelt, das tatsächlich hilfreich sein kann, den Menschen seiner Zeit zum Verständnis des christlichen Glaubens zu verhelfen. Zur Ausarbeitung eines solchen Instrumentariums kann nicht ohne Schaden »das stets gültige philosophische Erbe«1 vernachlässigt werden, das von der gläubigen Vernunft im Laufe der Jahrhunderte entwickelt worden ist. Denn »mens hominis est quasi lux illuminata a luce divini Verbi. Et ideo per lucem divini Verbi non eva-cuatur mens hominis, sed magis perficitur« (Summa Theol. III, q.5, a.4 ad 2). (Fs)

Stichwort: Theologie, Theologe

Autor, Quelle: Thomas, Aquin von, F1_001 - Die heilige Lehre, ihre Art und ihr Gegenstand

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Index: alle Questionen von 1 bringen

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Stichwort: Theologie, Theologe

Autor, Quelle: Thomas, Aquin von, F1_008 - Kennt diese Lehre ein Beweisverfahren?

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Stichwort: Theologie, Theologe

Autor, Quelle: Sokolowski, Robert, Eucharistic Presence: A Study in the Theology of Disclosure

Titel: Theology of Disclosure - positive, spekulative Theologie

Index: Theologie: 1 positive, 2 spekulative, 3 Theologie der Enthüllung (theology of disclosure, theology of manifestation); Phänomenologie; Lehre d. Kirche - Th.; Rationalismus, Historismus, Psychologismus; Erscheinung (Phänomen)

Kurzinhalt: the theology of disclosure differs from speculative theology because it examines the manifestation of Christian things and not, primarily, their nature, definition, and causes; and it differs from positive theology because it is concerned with ...

Text: 1 THREE FORMS OF THEOLOGY

5a Christian theology has traditionally been distinguished into the positive and the speculative. It would be helpful to introduce a type of theological thinking that comes between these two. I would like to call this intermediate form of reflective thought the "theology of disclosure" or "theology of manifestation." We can describe the theology of disclosure by contrasting it with both positive and speculative theology. (Fs; tblStw: Theologie)

5b Positive and speculative theology exemplify two ways in which faith seeks understanding. In pursuing their understanding, both forms of theology make use of human reason, but each does so in a different way: positive theology draws especially on the art and science of history, while speculative theology draws primarily on philosophy and the philosophical aspects of other sciences. Both forms of theology are critical sciences conscious of their methods; positive theology began in the Renaissance and speculative theology was most fully developed in the Scholasticism of the Middle Ages. (Fs)

5c Positive theology attempts to show how the articles of faith are found and developed in Scripture and Tradition; it also attempts to formulate the truths of revelation in contemporary terms.1 Biblical studies are the primary part of positive theology, but other parts examine the Fathers of the Church, the Papacy, the Councils, the liturgy, and the general history of the Church as it is related to the articles of faith. Positive theology discusses the historical settings in which the truths of faith have been revealed, confirmed, and transmitted; it tries to shed light on these truths by discussing the historical contexts in which they have been presented to us, and it also tries to formulate them again in terms appropriate to our own context. (Fs)

6a Speculative theology attempts to do more than restate the truths of faith in a contemporary manner; it attempts to provide an ordered and comprehensive understanding of these truths, using distinctions, definitions, causal explanations, and analogies. Speculative theology is concerned with what we might call Christian realities or Christian "things," the things that have been presented to us in biblical and Christian revelation. Its primary task is to reflect on God, his divine nature and attributes, and his actions in the world. It also studies things such as human being, human responsibility, language, society, even things like time, matter, and life, but it studies them specifically in their relation to the God who has revealed himself to us. Speculative theology attempts to bring out more clearly the meaning of what has been revealed; it tries to explain some truths by showing how they can be derived from, clarified, or supported by others; and it draws analogies between various things that are known or believed. Its explanations work, of course, within the domain of faith; the reasons and causes it appeals to come from revelation. It is not the case that speculative theological arguments would "explain away" an article of faith by making it rest simply on natural truths.2 (Fs)

7a Both positive and speculative theology must be distinguished from the teaching of the Church, which receives and hands on the elements of faith, the things that are believed. The Church conveys these things both in its ordinary life and instruction and in the particularly solemn pronouncements that it must formulate from time to time. Both positive and speculative theology are reflective; those who pursue these sciences presuppose the treasury of faith and go on to think about it according to the ways of thinking proper to their disciplines. The work of positive and speculative theologians is important for the preservation of faith, because by their questioning and investigation they help deepen the Church's possession of what it believes, and they are often able to help the Church draw distinctions between what is essential and what is coincidental in its practice and its revealed beliefs. (Fs) (notabene)

7b Normally the relationship between both forms of theology and the teaching Church is cooperative, but on occasion tensions may arise. It may sometimes appear that speculative theology puts its own reasoning in the place of the articles of faith, and it may at times seem that positive theology reduces the articles of faith to opinions prevailing in certain historical circumstances. The first error is called "rationalism" and the second "historicism"; they are the pitfalls that the two forms of theology must avoid. Theology may be tempted to fall into either rationalism or historicism because the truths of faith so greatly transcend human reason; the truths of faith are highly intelligible in themselves but only slightly intelligible to us, and so we may be inclined to allow the instruments used in theology (philosophy and history, with their more accessible intelligibility) to overshadow what has been revealed to us and what is believed. (Fs)

7c There is room for another form of reflective theological thinking. This third form, which I will call the theology of disclosure, would have the task of describing how the Christian things taught by the Church and studied by speculative theology come to light. It is to examine how they appear. If speculative theology, with its focus on Christian things or Christian realities, were to be considered an "ontological" investigation, the theology of disclosure could be called "phenomenological." (Fs)

8a At first glance it might seem that such a study of the appearance of Christian things resembles the work done by positive theology, which examines how the elements of faith have been made manifest in certain historical events, statements, and texts; but the approach followed by the two theologies is not the same. While historical theology examines facts, the theology of disclosure examines structures of disclosure; it describes the forms of manifestation proper to Christian things. It tries to describe how Christian things must display themselves, in keeping with what they are, and how they must distinguish themselves from things that resemble them and with which they may be confused. Thus, the theology of disclosure differs from speculative theology because it examines the manifestation of Christian things and not, primarily, their nature, definition, and causes; and it differs from positive theology because it is concerned with essential structures of disclosure, which would hold in all times and places, and not with matters of historical fact. Although it differs from these two theologies, it is obviously closely related to them and does not contradict anything they establish as true. (Fs)

8b When we say that the theology of disclosure is supposed to examine the way of appearing of Christian things, many readers will immediately conclude that this theology is a type of psychology. But the theology of disclosure is not a form of psychology. It is not meant to be a psychology of religious experience, nor a psychology of Christian religious experience. If it were to be done as a kind of psychology, it would almost certainly become reductionist. It would fall into an error analogous to the historicism that positive theology can fall into when it is not done properly. The error into which the theology of disclosure would fall is called "psychologism," the reduction of things and objects into human projections, mental acts, or mere appearances in the human mind and sensibility. To interpret the theology of disclosure psychologistically would imply that this form of theology had nothing to do with Christian things themselves but only with certain subjective, psychological states. But this would be a misconception of the theology of disclosure, and it would also betray a misunderstanding of the being of appearances: it would misconceive the display of being. Thus, just as speculative theology must be distinguished from rationalism and positive theology from historicism, so must the theology of disclosure be distinguished from psychologism. I hope to elaborate and illustrate this distinction in the course of this book. (Fs)

9a The hostile reaction we have described, which equates the theology of disclosure with psychology and which is highly suspicious of any study of appearances, is a response that one quite commonly encounters on the philosophical level when one tries to explain what phenomenology is. Phenomenology is often taken as a kind of psychology, and what it studies is often taken to be mere subjective experience. The reason why people frequently interpret phenomenology in this way is that in our cultural tradition, since the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, appearances have been badly misunderstood. Appearances have been turned into mere ideas, into subjective impacts that at best only hint at what things in themselves really are and at worst prevent us from ever reaching things at all; sometimes appearances are even said to be all that there is, with no "things" behind them whatsoever. Thus, when we begin to speak about a theology that investigates appearances, the average listener will immediately suppose that we intend to examine "merely" the way things appear, not the way they are. When one tries to describe and carry out the theology of disclosure, one is obliged to work against deeply ingrained prejudices that distort both our religious and our cultural understanding. A successful formulation of such a theology may be of benefit not only for religious thought but also for our general comprehension of how things come to light. (Fs)

9b It is my conviction that Edmund Husserl has accomplished in principle a more adequate understanding of the relationships among things, displays, and ourselves as datives of display, but his achievement still needs to be adapted to various intellectual disciplines and still needs to be made better known. Husserl (1859-1938) was the founder of phenomenology, the philosophical movement that set the tone for Continental European philosophy in the twentieth century. Although his influence has already been very great, it seems to me that there are aspects of his thought that deserve further development and application, particularly in overcoming the limitations of modernity. I will discuss these possibilities more extensively in Chapter 13. (Fs)

Stichwort: Theologie, Theologe

Autor, Quelle: Sokolowski, Robert, Eucharistic Presence: A Study in the Theology of Disclosure

Titel: Theology of Disclosure - Kirchenväter

Index: Theologie der Enthüllung (theology of disclosure); patristische Theologie; Th. - Philosophie

Kurzinhalt: The Fathers, in their Neoplatonic style, accepted the display of Christian things as part of the subject of their theology. Emanation, splendor, presence ... It is this aspect of Christian reflection that the theology of manifestation is to recover ...

Text: 10a The three scientific forms of theology that we have distinguished—the speculative, positive, and phenomenological— have arisen within the cultural developments of the past thousand years. The first millennium of Christian thought was dominated by "Patristic" theology, which is named after the writers who practiced it and not the methods that it used. Patristic theology was a more immediate reflection on faith. The historical and the speculative were not yet clearly distinguished, and appearances were not subject to the suspicion that would later be raised against them. The second millennium of Christian thought introduced specialization and a self-conscious use of methods, but so long as the speculative and the positive were the sole major forms of theology, the wholeness of Patristic thought could not be critically restored. The Fathers, in their Neoplatonic style, accepted the display of Christian things as part of the subject of their theology. Emanation, splendor, presence, concealment, and imaging were spontaneously accepted and vividly described. It is this aspect of Christian reflection that the theology of manifestation is to recover, but in a manner appropriate to our day and age and with recognition of the contributions of both speculative and positive theology. (Fs; tblStw: Theologie)

10b In recent years many theologians have discussed the issue of the appearance of Christian things; in this book we will draw especially on the writings of Hans Urs von Balthasar and Dom Anscar Vonier, O.S.B.1 We will try to offer a philosophical instrumentality for the work of such theologians. The term "philosophical instrumentality" may at first seem to be an oxymoron, since it suggests that philosophy, which in the natural order is an end in itself, can become a means and an instrument for purposes beyond itself. But part of the sense of Christian belief is that everything natural is understood to have been created, so the theological context of Creation allows even what is ultimate in the human order to become subordinated to the theological. The manner of subordination, however, is distinctive: philosophy is ancilla theologiae in a way different from the manner in which things function as instruments for ends and purposes in the natural order. The service that philosophy provides in theology is not like the service it might be called upon to provide, say, for a particular political society, a task that would turn philosophy into an ideology.2 Philosophy does not become ideological in Christian theology; it continues to function as a contemplative activity. It is not meant to establish Christian belief but to be involved in its understanding. (Fs)

Fußnote 2: 4. The prepolitical communities described by Aristotle are not based on argument or logos; the relationships between husband and wife, parents and children, and master and slave do not need justification by speech. Political society is based on argument; those who rule over others in the political order have to give a justification for their claim to rule. If philosophy were to become involved in providing this justification (as it does in Hobbes), it would cease to be contemplative and would become instrumental and ideological. The distinction between political and prepolitical society as regards the need for justification was made for me by Francis Slade.

11a Philosophy can be elevated into this theological service without losing its integrity because of the unique new setting that is introduced through the Christian distinction between the world and God; this distinction is not like any of the distinctions that are drawn within the world. The Christian distinction opens up an entirely new understanding of the whole. It permits a transposition of senses in which some claims that might seem contradictory in the natural order can be understood as coherent and consistent in the theological; mysteries like those of the Incarnation and grace can be accepted as mysteries and not as contradictions when they are understood within the setting of the Christian distinction. Likewise, the subordination of philosophy to biblical revelation does not destroy the preeminence and ultimacy of philosophy in the natural order.1 Indeed, philosophy can flourish as a human activity in this new religious setting. (Fs)

12a I have discussed the Christian distinction in a book entitled The God of Faith and Reason. That book deals with the widest and ultimate context of Christian belief, the context of Creation and the dependence of the world on God's creative choice. It also treats more particular issues, such as the sacraments and the Christian moral life, but it treats them in a derivative way. In the present volume, I will try to develop the same themes but will approach them from the other extreme. Instead of beginning with what is first in itself, I begin with what is first for us: the eucharistic action and eucharistic devotion that are a tangible part of the ordinary Catholic life, part of the things we encounter daily. We will explore how the Eucharist appears, the presentational forms through which it is given. But we will also explore the deeper levels revealed in sacramental life: the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption, the mystery of the God who creates out of freedom, wisdom, and love, and the mystery of the Holy Trinity. These dimensions are refracted and disclosed to us in the Eucharist, and exploring them is not tangential but essential to the study of eucharistic presence. (Fs)

Our theological reflection will focus on the appearance of Christian things. Before speaking further about the theology of disclosure, let us develop some thoughts concerning the Eucharist. The issue of appearance is obviously essential to this Christian mystery. We will return intermittently to the theology of disclosure to explain more fully how it is to be understood, and we will discuss it again systematically in Chapter 13. (Fs)

Stichwort: Theologie, Theologe

Autor, Quelle: Sala, Giovanni B, Kontroverse Theologie

Titel: Theologie - Glaube, Urteil, Erkenntnis

Index: Theologie als intellectus fidei: nicht auf der Ebene d. Urteils -> deshalb im Prinzip verschiedene Verstehehensarten des Geoffenbarten

Kurzinhalt: daß der Theologe auf der Suche nach einem intellectus fidei sich prinzipiell nicht auf der Ebene des Urteils und damit nicht auf der Ebene der Erkenntnis der Wirklichkeit befindet ... [Deshalb] kann eine Theologie schwer den Anspruch erheben ...

Text: 212b Eine Theologie, die als »intellectus fidei« aufgefaßt wird, setzt voraus, daß man klar unterscheidet zwischen Erkennen im ersten und vollen Sinne des Wortes, d.h. Erkennen der Realität1, und Verstehen (intelligere, Einsicht), welches ein Intelligibles im Inhalt der (äußeren oder inneren) Erfahrung erfaßt, wobei der ontologische Stellenwert dieses Intelligiblen erst im Urteil ermittelt wird. (Fs; tblStw: Theologie) (notabene)

213a Die »aliqua intelligentia« des Konzilstextes ist also das systematische Verstehen, auf dessen Suche der Theologe ist, der bereits aufgrund des Glaubens um die Glaubensgeheimnisse weiß - wobei dieses Wissen seinerseits ein Common-Sense oder katechetisches Verstehen voraussetzt, weil sonst der Glaubensakt keinen Sinn hätte. Ferner ist auf eine andere Konsequenz daraus hinzuweisen, daß der Theologe auf der Suche nach einem intellectus fidei sich prinzipiell nicht auf der Ebene des Urteils und damit nicht auf der Ebene der Erkenntnis der Wirklichkeit befindet, nämlich daß er eine Erkenntnis, die zur übernatürlichen Wirklichkeit gehört und die im Glaubensakt erreicht wird, voraussetzt. Die Konsequenz ist, daß das Glaubensverständnis, das der Theologe ausarbeitet, an sich weder wahr noch falsch ist. Denn Wahrheit und Falschheit finden erst im Urteil statt, welches aber im Falle der Theologie vorausgeht. Vom Glaubensverständnis kann nur gesagt werden, daß es in verschiedenem Maße ein für die jeweilige Kultur passendes Verstehen liefern kann. Ja das Glaubensverständnis kann sogar in dem Sinne als falsch bezeichnet werden, daß es, obwohl es kein Urteil ist, derart sein kann, daß es logischerweise zur Verneinung der betreffenden Wahrheit führt. Auf der anderen Seite kann eine bestimmte Theologie schwer den Anspruch erheben, die einzig mögliche zu sein. Denn die Distinktion zwischen Urteil und Verstehen läßt im Prinzip mehrere, voneinander verschiedene Verstehensarten des Geoffenbarten zu. Dies wiederum schließt nicht aus, daß bestimmte philosophische Systeme als ganze (oder einzelne philosophische Lehrstücke) weniger oder überhaupt nicht geeignet sind, als rationales Instrumentarium für die theologische Reflexion zu fungieren. (Fs) (notabene)

213b In diesen Überlegungen zum theologischen Verständnis geht es also um die Unterscheidung zwischen menschlicher Erkenntnis im eigentlichen und im weiteren Sinne. Im ersteren Sinne besteht sie in der dreigliedrigen Struktur von Erfahrung, Einsicht und Urteil. Im anderen Sinne ist sie jede der Handlungen, aus denen die Erkenntnisstruktur zusammengesetzt ist. Die Erfassung des erkenntnistheoretischen Status der »intelligentia«, von der der vatikanische Text spricht, ist Voraussetzung für eine exakte Erfassung dessen, was der Theologe tut, wenn er nach dem intellectus fidei sucht. (Fs)

Stichwort: Theologie, Theologe

Autor, Quelle: Ralph Mclnerny, Foreword, The Aquinas Catechism

Titel: Thomas von Aquin - Kontrast: moderner Theologe

Index: Thomas von Aquin als Katechet und Theologe; Kontrast zum heutigen Theologen

Kurzinhalt: The theologian, we are told today, is a university person, not a catechist. For Thomas, however, the theologian was pursuing the common Christian vocation of holiness: it would be an abomination to be learned in the things of God and not, in one's own ...

Text: XIIIc This also should not be surprising, for the medieval theologian had to know the Bible by heart, not only because copies of it were so prohibitively expensive but also as a professional necessity: the Scriptures are the chief source of the theologian's inspiration and he must turn to them time and again for light. (Fs; tblStw: Theologie) (notabene)

Consequently, the reader of this book is given a florilegium of biblical passages as well as numerous citations from Fathers of the Church, such as Augustine and Cyprian, all of which cast light on the prayers about which Thomas is preaching. (Fs)

XIIId Such prodigious scholarship alone would not suffice to make these commentaries worthy of the attention of both scholars and laymen. Their universal appeal is explained by yet another fact: Thomas Aquinas was not only the most learned man of his time; he was also a saint. (Fs) (notabene)
In common with the other Doctors of the Church, Thomas had achieved in his life a union of learning and sanctity. When he stood in the pulpit of San Domenico on those Lenten days in 1273 and spoke from his heart to his fellow Christians, he was speaking of the one great task we all share: to become perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. (Fs)

XIVa Contrast this with the thoroughly modern theologian who insists that his task must be sharply distinguished from that of the pastor. The theologian, we are told today, is a university person, not a catechist. For Thomas, however, the theologian was pursuing the common Christian vocation of holiness: it would be an abomination to be learned in the things of God and not, in one's own life, to pursue in grace friendship with God. (For this reason, the Church puts before us many models of sanctity who were not learned persons, but it has never accorded special status to Christians who were learned but not holy.) (Fs) (notabene)

XIVb Although he was the greatest scholar of his time, Thomas treasured holiness far more than scholarship. This is evident from an incident that occurred during the same Lent in which these sermons were preached. One day, Thomas was observed praying in the chapel of St. Nicholas at the Naples monastery. A voice from the crucifix spoke: "Thomas, you have written well of me. What would you have as a reward for your work?" And Thomas answered: "Lord, only Thyself."

It is well to remind ourselves of such stories of Thomas's sanctity which refer to the very period in which these sermons were preached. Yes, Thomas had the acquired wisdom of the scholar; but far more important, he had that wisdom which is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Both wisdoms are evident in these sermons, but it is the second that gives them that ring of holiness which establishes their universal appeal and their enduring significance for us. (Fs)

Today, publication of such a book of sermons may not set a trend; but no matter. And even among those who do pick up this book, many may read it solely to learn about the sermon as a literary genre or to add to their scholarly knowledge of St. Thomas and the Middle Ages. (Fs)
XVa This would be unfortunate, for although the sermon is certainly a literary genre, it is much more than that. And although these particular sermons reveal much about St. Thomas and the Middle Ages, they do far more than that. (Fs)

One of the Fathers of the Church said that "God did not become man in order that man might become a theologian." Similarly, St. Thomas did not preach these sermons to exemplify a literary genre or to provide a new footnote on the Middle Ages. He preached these sermons to lead his hearers to holiness. (Fs)

For those still striving for holiness, the publication of these sermons - by this author on prayers such as these - is a grace indeed. (Fs)